Confusion, compassion heard in wildfire 911 calls

Aug. 29, 2013
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Pete Masiel, a dispatch center manager with the Arizona State Forestry Division, dusts off a folded American flag that sits at the base of a flag pole on July 23, 2013, near the site where 19 firefighters died fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30, 2013. / David Wallace, The Arizona Republic

by Joe Dana, The Arizona Republic

by Joe Dana, The Arizona Republic

PHOENIX -- Emergency calls made from homeowners in the Yarnell area reflect concern, confusion and compassion as the Yarnell Hill Fire broke fire lines June 30 and headed for the small community, according to recordings released this week by the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office.

As early as 11:42 a.m., four hours before the fire violently reversed course and overran 19 Granite Mountain Hotshot firefighters and Yarnell homes, one caller asked the operator why planes weren't fighting the fire.

"I'm trying to find out where the retardant planes are, where they drop the retardant. There's no air support here," he said.

The operator explained that air support depended on the weather. Planes and helicopters had dropped water and retardant earlier in the day, according to state forestry records. She transferred the caller to a U.S. Forest Service hotline.

Some 911 callers asked for confirmation on the need to evacuate. Operators calmly instructed them to leave "as soon as possible" if they lived within the evacuation zone. After an older woman learned she needed to evacuate, she abruptly ended the conversation, saying, "Oh, God, OK, thank you. Bye."

A man called 911 in a panic at 4:49 p.m., just two minutes after the Granite Mountain Hotshots radioed command staff to say they had deployed their shelters. The fire was engulfing homes on the outskirts of Yarnell.

"The whole Glen Ilah (community) is in fire," the man said, referring to a community south of Yarnell also ravaged by the blaze.

The fire would ultimately destroy 129 homes and structures in the area. During the phone call, the man repeated an address over and over, as if it might make a difference. Firefighters had already abandoned Yarnell.

"OK," the operator responded. "We're going to do everything we can, sir, but we've been evacuated at this point."

There also appears to be a moment of selflessness revealed in one phone call made at 4:18 p.m. as the fire was bearing down on Yarnell.

A woman urgently told the operator that she was with a man who refused to leave his home.

"He will not leave until firefighters come get him out. He's an elderly man. He's 80 years old. He's on oxygen," she said. Two minutes later, the woman told the operator that "a red truck arrived."